


Two Kinds of News

by aeriamamaduck



Series: TES/DA Series [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: Because Martin can't be the only one with parent issues., Car Accidents, Family Issues, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Minor Character Death, Multi, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 19:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7654111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeriamamaduck/pseuds/aeriamamaduck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garrett stands behind Minerva as her life threatens to derail.</p><p>Modern AU TES/DA crossover where the Champions of Cyrodiil and Kirkwall grow up together and face the perils of their late-20's and law school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Kinds of News

Garrett shut the door behind him, a grin plastered on his face as he heard Fenris curse while pressing on the car’s accelerator. He placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and started unloading the dairy products, relieved that they finally had some cheese. It had all disappeared the day before on New Year’s Day, disappearing in the middle of sandwiches that everyone in the house had devoured. God, was he going to miss home cooking when they got back to school.

“There you are!” His mother appeared at the door, trembling slightly and eyes wide. “Something happened. Where's Fenris?”

Frowning and growing worried, Garrett replied, “He's trying to get the car unstuck. What happened?”

Leandra sighed heavily and shook her head. “Minerva, she…She got a call from the state police. Her parents, Garrett…They hit black ice and skidded off the road.”

The news felt as though an anvil were dropped on his stomach. Garrett blinked as he attempted to comprehend what his mother just told him. “…A-are they okay…?”

She closed her eyes as her brow wrinkled with sadness. “They didn’t make it.”

The same words he’d heard in the hospital when Dad and Carver had died. Garrett breathed heavily, taking off his coat and scarf as the room suddenly felt suffocating and hot. “Where is she?”

“Bethany’s room.”

He made his way up the stairs towards his sister’s room, where he could hear Bethany’s softly murmuring voice. He remembered Minerva doing just the same to him after he’d identified Dad and Carver. She was with him during the worst moments of his life, so he would be with her in this moment.

Knocking softly, Garrett opened the door an inch. “…Min…?”

He looked inside to find Minerva curled up on her side on Bethany’s bed, head resting on his sister’s lap. Her eyes were reddened and puffy, and she took gulping breaths as shuddering sobs made her entire body shake. “I should’ve called them.” Her voice was brittle as glass. She shut her eyes before continuing. “I should’ve called them at midnight, I just…I didn’t want to. God, I’m the…I was the worst fucking daughter ever!”

Bethany gently said, “You weren’t, Minerva! They were really proud of you!”

“I never even told them about Martin, Beth!” Her voice broke into hard sobs into her hand, Bethany holding on to her. “God, I feel so sick…”

Half-closing the door behind him, Garrett quickly moved to sit on the bed and placed a hand on Minerva’s calf, hoping to calm her. “It’s okay, you’ll be okay. We’re all right here.”

She shook her head as she slowly sat up, her entire frame shaking. “We should’ve talked more, Gare. They didn’t know anything about me and I didn’t care what happened to them after I left home. And…and now…” She took a shaky breath and clasped her trembling hands together on her lap. “Oh god, I think I’m pregnant!”

“You’re… _pregnant?!”_

“ _What?!”_

The three of them turned to see Fenris standing in the threshold, pale and blinking in shock. Garrett was also stunned into silence, not having predicted this outcome when the news that brought them all here was tragic. Fenris shook himself out of his stupor. “I…Leandra told me about…” He stepped into the room and sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, Minerva."

Bethany looked anxious as Minerva continued to cry, but gently said, “You should call Martin. Do you want me to get your phone?”

Shaking her head, Minerva got to her feet, surprisingly steady. “I’ll do it.”

Bethany still helped her out of the room, Garrett remaining behind with Fenris, feeling despondent. While Minerva’s parents had hardly been ideal, she did not deserve to feel the kind of loss that had nearly killed him.

Bethany returned to the room and quickly rifled through one of her drawers. “I suppose I ought to give her one of these.” Garrett spotted a box marked "pregnancy test" in her hand.

He sputtered, “Bethany!”

She looked at him in surprised outrage. “What?”

Fenris muttered softly, “Not the best way to find out your little sister is having sex.”

Garrett flushed furiously and tried to concentrate on his best friend, sitting at the base of the stairs. “Jesus Christ…”

Minerva dialed and put her phone to her ear, and within moments there was an answer. She swallowed and attempted, “Hi, honey…I…it’s just…” Garrett saw her shoulders shake before she sobbed, “My mom and dad are dead.”

-

Garrett sat on the porch swing, nursing a beer and staring across the street at the house where Minerva had grown up. A house without its owners.

How many times had a teenage Minerva managed to escape to his house, her anxieties disappearing for a few hours while they did their homework together and she had dinner with them?

How was he supposed to mourn those two when they were a constant source of strain in his best friend’s life?

The door opened and Fenris appeared, bearing a plate. “There you are. Brought you some pizza. I made sure to pick off all the mushrooms.”

Garrett took it with a grin before Fenris sat down beside him. “You’re a doll.”

The other man elbowed him lightly for the comment and then sighed. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…I was just remembering when my dad and brother died. Minerva helped me get myself back together. Now it’s like…everything’s hitting her at once. Parents dead. A baby.”

“Did you know her parents well?”

Garrett shrugged as he took a drink of beer. “Not as well as she knew mine. Mr. and Mrs. Saturnius had a lot more rules, were no-nonsense even when she was little. Honestly, I was scared of them. They didn’t hit her but…they made damn sure she knew when she disappointed them. Minerva ended up spending more time here, and kept a lot of secrets.”

“She’s told me about that. They wanted her to join the army after high school.” He reached beneath the swing for another beer from the half-dozen Garrett had brought out with him, opening it and adding with a soft chuckle, “Instead she followed her ‘boyfriend,’ to use their phrasing, to college.”

God, how that had irritated him when Mr. and Mrs. Saturnius had first implied it. “Yeah. According to them I led her down the wrong path.”

They sat in silence, Garrett eating as they watched their breaths fog up the air and the Christmas lights flickering throughout the neighborhood. Fenris placed a hand on Garrett’s knee and said firmly, “Look, whatever happens, we’ll all help her out. She’s not just my classmate, she’s my friend.”

Garrett smiled and clinked his can against Fenris’s. “You’re a good man, Fenris.”

The door opened again and Minerva appeared, dazed as she took faltering steps and sat down on the swing while winding a scarf around her neck. “So, Martin's on his way,” she said, voice sounding a little too bright. Her eyes were still rimmed with red as they gazed at the house across the street.

Fenris frowned, his gaze directed at Minerva’s shaking hands. “That's good."

Garrett stared at her, trying to determine the most tactful way to ask about the test results. “So...what did the test say?”

Minerva let out a long exhale, biting her lip and staring at her old home before answering tonelessly, “I took one...and another.” She turned and faced them both, completely petrified. “…I’m going to be a mom.”


End file.
